U.S. Drone Confronted by Iran; Rand Paul Speaks at CPAC; Prosecutors Take on Jodi Arias; Stock Market Still Up

Aired March 14, 2013 - 13:30 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tim Miller, founder of, Equusearch, says he knows what Monette's family is going through. His own daughter turned up dead 17 months after she disappeared.

TIM MILLER, FOUNDER, EQUUSEARCH: I've been there before my own self and know what this family's going through. And when I heard mom on TV yesterday crying, how can you -- how can you help not to help?

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF MONETTE: I just want my baby back.

VALENCIA: Monette's mother says she plans to stay in New Orleans until her daughter is found. She says she's convinced she was kidnapped by somebody who forced their way into her car, a 2012 two- door black Honda that's also missing.

Nick Valencia, CNN, New Orleans.

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: We have new information coming in to CNN.

I want to go to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. We are learning about a conflict or some tension between Iranian military and U.S. drones.

What do we know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, there has now been a confrontation. Earlier this week, we have learned that a U.S. drone was confronted by Iranian war planes over the Persian Gulf. It was a U.S. predator drone flying in international air space in the Persian Gulf when Iran spotted it. And sources are telling us, confirming that Iran sent some of its own planes into the air over the Persian Gulf to shadow this drone, to dog it around and try and see what it was up to. Now, no shots were fired.

But these drone missions are especially sensitive for the United States because they go out over that water and they basically spy on Iran and try and find out, while still in international air space, what Iran's military may be up to.

This is not the first time. Several months ago, Iran fired at a U.S. Drone over the Persian Gulf. That didn't happen this time. And of course, you remember, in 2011, Iran captured a U.S. spy plane after it crashed inside of Iran.

The latest one of these incidents makes for some tension because the U.S. doesn't want to, of course, see it get out of hand and hostilities accidentally begin or inadvertently begin -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Barbara, do we have any idea if the Pentagon is reacting to this? How are they reacting to the fact that this U.S. drone was targeted?

STARR: Well, that's really the core of it, isn't it? What a senior U.S. official is telling me is, these have happened before, but the message we send to Iran is we, the U.S. military, are in international air space, and we are prepared to defend our aircraft, manned, remotely piloted, whatever it is. They are prepared to defend U.S. assets in the Persian Gulf that they say are in international air space. So that's the message they're sending.

They're very clear they don't want to start hostilities with Iran, but when these things happen, they will defend themselves -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Barbara, how do they send that message? Is that something that happens diplomatically or beef up assets over there?

STARR: Well, I think they're feeling is Iran well knows this. When the news reports come out, they try and be very clear that they put out their message.

And it's really interesting because, in this case, it all began with a news report out of Iran saying that they had basically targeted an American spy plane, a U-2 aircraft, a manned aircraft that flies at very high altitude. The U.S. was very clear that didn't happen. But they did confirm to me, three officials, that it was this predator drone.

So sensitive missions, but they are willing to confirm some details because they want Iran to know perhaps that they know what Iran is up to --

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STARR: -- or at least that's their view.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Barbara. Appreciate that.

We know this. She spent marathon 18 days right on the stand answering more than 200 jury questions. This is what a lot of folks have been following. Live preview of what's expected today in the trial of Jodi Arias, just up ahead.

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MALVEAUX: All right. I want to go back to the Conservative Political Action Convention in Maryland. We are now seeing Kentucky Senator Rand Paul speaking now. Let's watch a little.

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY: -- the president is that no one person gets to decide the law. No one person gets to decide your guilt or innocence.

My question -- my question to the president was about more than just killing Americans on American soil. My question was about whether presidential power has limits.

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PAUL: Lincoln put it well when he wrote, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man, give him power."

President Obama, who seemed, once upon a time, to respect civil liberties, has become the president who signed a law allowing for indefinite detention of an American citizen. Indeed, a law that allows an American citizen to be sent to Guantanamo Bay without a trial. Now, President Obama defends his signing of this bill by stating that he has no intention of detaining an American citizen without a trial. Likewise, he defended possible drone strikes on Americans by indicating that he had no intention of doing so.

Well, my 13-hour filibuster was a message to the president, good intentions are not enough.

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GIGOT: The presidential oath of office states, "I will protect, preserve and defend the Constitution." It doesn't say, well, I intend to when it's convenient.

Mr. President, good intentions are not enough. We want to know, will you or won't you defend the Constitution?

Eisenhower wrote, "How far can you go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without." If we destroy our enemy but lose what defines our freedom in the process, have we really won? If we allow one man to charge Americans as enemy combatants and indefinitely detain or drone them, then what exactly is it that our brave young men and women are fighting for?

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MALVEAUX: Listening to Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, just one of many conservative Republicans who have gathered just outside of Washington. You heard him there taking on the president over presidential and executive power. We're going to be dipping in, listening in to that conference as it continues throughout the afternoon. A lot of debate and speculation over whether or not those main speakers will be considered for run in 2016.

Florida's lieutenant governor has resigned. Jennifer Carol stepped down after being questioned by investigators about her role in an allegedly corrupt veteran's charity. Her resignation came the same day 57 people connected with the charity were arrested on racketeering and money laundering charges. Carol formally served in the Florida state House. She was tapped to run as Governor Rick Scott's running mate in 2010. The defense now continues their case in the Jodi Arias trial where today's focus is going to be on domestic violence. We have a live report from Phoenix after the break.

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MALVEAUX: After 18 days of riveting testimony from murder defendant, Jodi Arias, the defense is now putting a psychologist and domestic violence expert on the stand. Arias shot her boyfriend in the head, stabbed him 29 times. She says it was in self-defense. Prosecutors call it cold-blooded murder.

Ted Rowlands is at the courthouse in Phoenix.

So, Ted, what do we hope -- or rather what does the defense hope to accomplish with the witnesses today?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, here's the thing. She has this great memory on the stand. She remembers dates. She remembers specific things that happened to her as a child, as an adult. But she can't remember everything that happened during the actual murder, the details of that. And so these two witnesses are coming on, a psychologist and then also a domestic violence expert, to basically explain to the jury that, because this was such a traumatic event, that's why she has selective memory. And this has been a problem for her on the stand for the last 18 days -- you mentioned it.

The prosecutor in this case, Juan Martinez, hammered away at her yesterday on her final day on the stand, getting to her, asking her why she couldn't remember, and basically poking holes in her story.

Let's take a quick listen to some of that.

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JODI ARIAS, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER: -- started to come in after the gunshot. After I got up and he threatened my life, I had no clear memories after that.

MARTINEZ: Actually, ma'am, the way you describe that, it's impossible for the killing to have happened in that manner, isn't it?

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ROWLANDS: I think, Suzanne, it's safe to say that everybody was happy yesterday when, at the end of the day, she was finally done. There were no more questions for Jodi Arias.

We're still waiting for court to resume now. We're expecting it at any minute. She's in the courtroom. Everybody's there, just waiting for the judge. MALVEAUX: Ted, we know she got a lot of questions from the jurors, more than 200 or so. Based on their questions, do they believe her story? Is there any way of indicating which way they're leaning?

ROWLANDS: Well, here's the thing. When you're in the courtroom and listen to her, it is amazing how accurate she is and how difficult it is to trip her up on the details of what happened. The problem is, is that she has a story that doesn't make as much sense as the prosecution's story in terms of what happened. She says it was self- defense. She dropped a camera and her boyfriend freaked out to the point where he wanted to kill her. The prosecution's theory is that she was a jilted lover, the Glenn Close character from "Fatal Attraction," basically, and that makes more sense.

Whether or not she was strong enough on the stand to save herself is remaining to be seen. Will be amazing to hear from the jurors when this is all over.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. It's been a fascinating trial to begin with.

Ted, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

This story absolutely incredible. Surviving the odds, a skydiver lives to tell about a terrifying fall after his parachute fails.

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MALVEAUX: This is terrifying. Imagine what this guy was experiencing, what he was feeling here. This skydiver, streaming to earth, hooked to a parachute that has just failed. His jump partner, watching all of it.

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KATIE HANSEN, SKYDIVER: I was pretty sure I was about to watch my friend die. I was about to watch my friend die.

CRAIG STAPLETON, SKYDIVER: I completely lucked out. God watches out for idiots and puppy dogs, and he just let me live and walk away.

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MALVEAUX: Absolutely amazing. That's right. The guy we just saw speaking, he's the one who bounced to earth, somehow only dislocated his shoulder. Craig Stapleton says he landed in freshly plowed dirt. Only has a couple of bruises. And he actually says, believe it or not, he's going skydiving again.

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Brave or foolish, I don't know.

Scientists in Florida say, get ready for some huge mosquitoes this summer. You have to check this picture out. These mosquitoes are 20 times the size in Florida. University of Florida researchers say the bite, yes, you got to believe it, it really hurts. A lot could hatch this summer if there is enough rain. They actually lay eggs in flooded areas and those eggs can lay dormant for years until they are saturated. The good news, they actually eat other mosquitoes, and are not considered to be carriers of disease. Wow.

How long can the markets continue to make record gains? Live report from the New York Stock Exchange, up next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we need a Department of the Ocean like the Department of land. On land, we don't farm the crops in the cities, in these dense areas. Coastal waters are those cities and the dense areas, where there's a lot of competing uses for that environment. The farmer crops on land and the vast part of the fields, which is really the open ocean.

Not only are we getting a cleaner fish that's free of contaminants, that's free of any of those harmful contaminants that you have come to see in the news around seafood, such as PCBs, mercury, pesticides. It doesn't exist and we can prove it.

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MALVEAUX: U.S. stocks looking great. Still advancing after the Dow hit its tenth straight day of record highs.

Alison Kosik joining us from the New York Stock Exchange.

So, where are we now, Alison? How are we doing?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Still trading in the plus column, Suzanne. Dow, up 51 points. That news on the jobs front, that is helping gains today. We found out the first-time claims for unemployment fell 10,000 to 332,000. What that basically shows is things in the job market continue to slowly but surely improve.

But it really wasn't a stunner of a report, so what's really driving the market is momentum. That's what's kind of interesting, as well, because the headline sounds great, the Dow, you know, it's breaking records every day, and it is, but barely. You look at the moves at the close, when the closing bell rings, they aren't huge. Yesterday, the Dow eked out a 5-point gain. The day before that, only two points higher. But technically, yes, it's a record. Every day, the Dow ends higher from the level of 14,164. Right now, it's 14,507. It's getting up there -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: That's good. Do we expect it to continue, or is there fear it could drop?

KOSIK: That's the money question, isn't it? There really aren't many traders in the game right now. That could put the gains in jeopardy, especially in the short term. So could any random piece of negative news. Overall, meaning if it happens, if you see stocks turn into the red, it could wind up being 10 percent to 15 percent. That's less than the Dow made these kinds of records. So it sounds pretty bad, may not be so bad, especially since the Dow is getting up there.

For now, Suzanne, we are on sort of S&P 500 record watch. The Dow's already hit it. Now it's the S&P 500's turn. If it does hit that record level --

MALVEAUX: Right.

KOSIK: -- of 1565, it would be bigger. Not only because your 401K, your portfolio tracks that index, but if it hits that record, it could mean more momentum for the overall market to move higher -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Sounds good.

Thank you, Alison. Appreciate it.

Honda doing a worldwide recall of 250,000 recalls because of a brake problem. Here are the models having problems: 2005 Honda Odyssey mini van, 2005 Pilot SUV, the 2005 Acura R.L. sedan, the 2006 Acura MSX SUV. Honda says no accidents or injuries have been reported because of this problem. The issue is the car's electronic stability control system. Now, that is what supplies brakes automatically to stop skidding but, in some cases, this system is braking unnecessarily.